VR Simulator Training for Hand Spray Nozzle Operators
On the Hand Spraying course the VR simulator module depends on the candidate. A new operator must complete it before they spray a production face. An experienced operator with 40 verified days may book it and is not required to. Either way the simulator records what the operator did, scenario by scenario: nozzle distance, angle, spray pattern, layer build-up and rebound. The certificate at the end is the only hand spraying nozzle operator certification available in Australia.
New Operators
The module runs after the theory day and the EFNARC online examination. It is 2 days, with a third available if the scenarios need it, and all required scenarios must be completed. The operator then builds up 40 verified days of hand spraying on their own site, recorded on the EFNARC work experience form, and returns for the practical assessment. No test panels are required on this pathway, because the simulator record covers that part of the assessment.
Experienced Operators
An operator with 40 verified days on the form can go from the theory and the examination straight to the on-site practical assessment. On that pathway they spray 600 x 600 mm test panels at the production dose, in the orientation of the work. The panels are cored 7 days later and tested at a laboratory.
The simulator stays available to them, and some employers ask for it. An experienced operator who does the simulator module is assessed on the simulator record instead of the panels. Each candidate goes through one of the 2 records, and neither can be talked through.
What It Records
Holding 1.0 to 1.5 m from the substrate and 90 degrees to it for a whole load, with the record showing when the distance drifts out as the arms tire. The small circular pattern and a steady speed of travel, with the layer showing where the travel was too slow and the material built up, or too fast and the cover came up thin. Opening the angle to fill behind a bar and coming straight back to square. Building thickness over passes of 50 to 80 mm, and seeing where a pass was loaded beyond what the material holds. Rebound as a number, so the operator sees what distance and angle do to it, and that more air makes it worse.
By hand those numbers slip with fatigue, awkward geometry and reaching, and nothing on the wall shows it quickly. The simulator shows it on the record. An operator who held 1.2 m for a whole load and one who drifted to 2 m look the same from across a heading.
What It Does Not Replace
The 40 days. Supervised production spraying on the nozzle cannot be shortened. Reading the material, working with the pump operator by hand signal and keeping the thickness in a cross passage or behind steel come from the work. Every candidate still finishes with a practical assessment on site with the examiner present.
The simulator runs set up for hand spraying, on your site or at other locations by arrangement. Where the candidate has no machine, our pump truck can be set up for hand spraying for the assessment day at an agreed location, with charges for concrete and the set-up. On the enquiry form, say whether the operator has 40 days a supervisor can verify, so the right pathway is quoted.
We run the EFNARC Hand Spraying nozzle operator course on your site or at other locations by arrangement. The course page has the modules and the enquiry form.
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